Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – Should You Sell?

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE:CMP) shares passed above its 200-day moving average during trading on Monday . The stock has a 200-day moving average of $11.78 and traded as high as $13.12. Compass Minerals International shares last traded at $13.04, with a volume of 830,889 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMP has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Compass Minerals International from $20.00 to $18.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. StockNews.com raised Compass Minerals International to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th.

Compass Minerals International Stock Up 1.2 %

The company has a market cap of $558.79 million, a P/E ratio of -3.29 and a beta of 1.21. The company’s 50-day moving average is $12.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $11.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.47, a current ratio of 2.90 and a quick ratio of 0.74.

Compass Minerals International (NYSE:CMP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, December 16th. The basic materials company reported ($0.77) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.05 by ($0.82). The business had revenue of $208.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $323.61 million. Compass Minerals International had a positive return on equity of 4.75% and a negative net margin of 14.81%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 38.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.05 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Compass Minerals International, Inc. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Compass Minerals International

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CMP. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 7.7% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 112,035 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,157,000 after purchasing an additional 7,966 shares during the last quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in Compass Minerals International by 16.9% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 34,427 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $356,000 after buying an additional 4,976 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Compass Minerals International by 60.8% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 63,658 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $658,000 after buying an additional 24,068 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Compass Minerals International in the 2nd quarter worth $195,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Compass Minerals International by 49.0% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 36,889 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 12,135 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.78% of the company’s stock.

About Compass Minerals International

Compass Minerals International, Inc, provides essential minerals in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. It operates through two segments, Salt and Plant Nutrition. The Salt segment produces, markets, and sells sodium chloride and magnesium chloride, including rock salt, mechanically and solar evaporated salt, and brine and flake magnesium chloride products; and purchases potassium chloride and calcium chloride to sell as finished products or to blend with sodium chloride to produce specialty products.